Beginning of a new year...end of a blog

I admit, it's been kind of fun blogging..but as 2010 starts up; a whole new year--I've been re-evaluating my priorities. Too much time spent at the computer and not enough time doing the things that really matter. For instance, how can I made a dent in my overwhelming stash of fabric when I am sitting here instead of at my sewing machine? Sigh. So even though I could amuse you (hopefully) with tales of our adventures in So. Africa (gorgeous place, I never expected to love it!) or our 23 hour lay over in Amsterdam (too short, especially when 12 of those hours were spent sleeping and another three were spent trying to get a boarding pass for Tom who REALLY ISN'T the Irish terrorist of the same name..who was executed 8 years ago, so why is his name still on the no fly list?) In spite of that and all the cute baby Aurora photos I could post, or the stories of my cute new Sunbeam class I could tell you.....no...

must quilt.

Must get in 10,000 steps each day.

Besides, I think in blogging, I've only been talking to myself (IS ANYONE OUT THERE?) I can do that just as easily verbally as I quilt and exercise (gak. exercise...)

Have a wonderful 2010, everyone (if there is, indeed, anyone out there reading this) Find me on Facebook and be my friend there, if you want to see photos and hear stories. lol

off to quilt!

Time with Baby

Aurora is visiting us this week while her parents are off on a cruise to the Bahamas, celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary. I was thinking, what did Tom and I do to celebrate OUR fifth? Probably order out for delivery pizza! lol

Fortunately, Aurora is a happy little person and easy to tend. This morning we vacuumed. I wasn't sure how she'd react to the vacuum cleaner. The cat runs from it. Not Aurora! She laughed, waved her arms excitedly in the air, and chased it! It was such fun, I ended up vacuuming the whole house, just to watch her reaction. Funny funny girl.

She has also been enjoying chasing our cat, Taz, around the house. Taz is more tolerant this time, than when she was here in August. I'm wondering if the difference is that Aurora is walking on two feet now; and now is classified in Taz's feline brain, as a human and a source (eventually) of petting and cat treats. If I were Taz, I would run away from this little critter, but Taz holds her ground, even when a baby finger tries to poke an eye, or a baby hand grabs a fistful of hair. I'm keeping close watch on the two of them, just in case...but perhaps Taz is a bit too tolerant and should, instead, take to napping in higher locations around the house. Although, I guess Taz has found perks to all this. This morning, I found Aurora sharing her Gerber yogurt "melts" with Taz. Who knew cats liked yogurt?

Tom installed a few baby latches on kitchen cupboards, but not nearly enough, so I have chairs and other objects, blocking access to most of the cupboards. Aurora does have access to the Tupperware and yesterday, I showed her what noise could be had by hitting two pan lids together like cymbals! Oooh, she likes that!

Here are some Aurora-photos for all the baby fans out there.

Another Christmas Quilt

While Tom was off on yet another business trip recently, I decided to try to get rid of some of my Christmas fabric stash. I've had the idea bouncing around in my head for years now, that it would be nice to have a Christmas quilt for each of the beds. HA! Last year I finished one, and now this year: two more! Since we have three beds (two in guest rooms), I've got it covered (lol) but oh dear, I still have more Christmas fabric left.

Taz, our Manx cat, always comes into my quilting room to keep track of what I'm doing. After all, she wouldn't want to miss anything! When I put a quilt on the HQ Sixteen, she hops up on the back of it, winds her way through the machine a few times--back and forth, and then ends up sitting there, showing me her back, like she is ignoring me. Pouting perhaps, because I'm quilting instead of petting her? I'm never sure. Once I start up the machine and start quilting, she retreats to her assigned napping spot in the room. One time when I was cleaning and rearranging my quilting studio, I neglected to factor in the "napping spot," and Taz, who is seldom vocal, let me know in no uncertain terms (meows, in her case), that I needed to fix the problem. Phew! Who runs this house, anyway?

Here is the quilt, finished. It is all triangles.
While Tom was on his last trip, I set my sewing machine up in the livingroom, in front of the big screen tv. I took over the whole house with my mess: the diningroom table became my cutting area, a counter top was the pressing station..and fabric everywhere! It was a nice change. Then I sewed and sewed. I never did try out the quilt for size, on my bed, until I was finished. As a result, it came out a bit narrower than I would have liked--but long enough for a tuck-under with the pillows! Oooh well. It is very warm...and I do have more Christmas fabric; a good start for Christmas quilt #4!

Wheeler and Wilson Treadle

My husband loves yard sales and Craig's List. However, he doesn't just look for goodies for himself. Nope, nice fellow that he is, he finds surprises for me a well. Check out this latest toy! It cost him all of $15.




It's a Wheeler and Wilson treadle. W&W was the big sewing machine manufacturer before Singer took over. Actually, Singer bought them out in the early 1900's. This machine is a #9. There's a gold seal on it, with it's serial number, the company name, location (Bridgeport, Connecticut) and "patented Mar. 25th, '90--Aug. 2, '92." Of course that's 1890 and 1892. It's in useable shape, but lacking a few parts. I've located new needles, an extra bobbin, but still need the belt for the treadle. The hunt continues! Meanwhile, it's pretty to look at!

My grandmother had a treadle machine. My sister ended up with it; "gutted" it and turned it into a planter. As always, I don't know what she was thinking!

Halloween and Men in Tights

Hope you all had a fun Halloween! I don't know what it was about this year, but BOTH of my "boys" wore tights! And..they look good in 'em!

Jim and Sheena:


Jeff, Frieda and Aurora in their Halloween costumes:

My week of sewing

Sometimes Tom travels a lot for work. It all has to do with his radar projects and which ones need personal supervision. Currently he's working on setting up and testing radar systems in Alaska. Since I can't go with him, I find myself with a lot of quilting time! This is good, and bad--it gets very quiet at home with just Taz the cat for company.

Here are two projects finished this week. The bear is from a pattern in Eleanor Burn's book "Christmas at Bear's Paw Ranch." I made it out of an old quilt top that was given to me, along with a lot of fabric, when I helped a littl' ol' lady clean out her storage unit. She never finished the quilt and as I attempted to do that, I could see why. It was wonky and misshapen. Quilting didn't improve it, and I realized if I tried trimming off the bad parts, I'd probably end up with nothing left! So..patchwork bears might be just the thing. What do YOU do with cutter quilts?




The quilt is from a kit and the top was finished last year, before Christmas. I dug it out of my UFO pile. The squares with the birds aren't appliqued, but rather printed on the fabric. The rest is pieced.

I have one more project to finish up, a Christmas quilt made of triangles. It just needs borders and since Tom won't be home until tomorrow (weather permitting), I should be able to accomplish that and maybe even get it in the frame for quilting!

In Which We Celebrate Jim's Birthday

My firstborn had a birthday this month! You can breathe a sigh of relief that I am unable to post the video of us singing to him, but here are some photos.






I found a most annoying candle holder, for a birthday candle. When the base is twisted, it plays the Happy Birthday song! Jim thought it was hideous, of course, but the rest of us were amused. Okay, Jim was amused too, but in a horrified way! heh heh heh